OBJECTIVE To develop a method for the determination of thymol and salicylic acid in complex thymol spirit. METHODS The separation was performed on a Diamonsil C₁₈ column (4.6 mm × 150 mm,5 μm) .The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonirile-methanol-potassium dihydrogen phosphate (0.02 mol·L^-1, adjust pH to 3.0 by phosphoric acid) (45:10:45 ) and the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min^-1, with the detection wavelength at 231 nm.RESULTS No interference was found with the determination of thymol and salicylic acid.The calibration curve was linear within the range of 0.1 - 0.3 mg· L^-1 for thymol (r=0.999 9) and for hydrocortisone (r=0.999 8) .The average recoveries of thymol and salicylic acid were 99.5 % and 100.1 % , respectively. The RSD were 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION The method can be used for the determination of thymol and salicylic acide in complex thymol spirit.